The San Bernardino County Sun from San Bernardino, California • Page 36

C4 The Sun FRIDAY, May 7, 1993 NL ROUNDUP Reds rally in ninth for win 'V A -L? ,11 With a 4-0 lead, ace Doug Dra-; bek working on a shutout in the ninth inning and top reliever Doug Jones in waiting if nec-essary, Houston Astros manager Art Howe had every reason to be optimistic Thursday night. "I thought we had it, after we hit those two home runs in the eighth," Howe said after a 5-4 loss to the Cincinnati Reds at the Astrodome. "I'll take my chances anytime with that lead and Doug Drabek and Doug Jones. A four- run cushion should be enough." It wasn't Reggie Sanders hit a two-run homer 'the second of the inning off Jones and the Reds scored all their runs in their final af-bat to stun the Astros. Drabek backed by three homers among Houston's six hits i lost his shutout bid on a single by Bobby Kelly and an RBI dou-! v.

ble by Jeff Branson. Jones (1-1) Angels won't protest win By Mike Terry Sun Sports Writer NEW YORK The Angels had planned to protest Thursday's game after a third-inning dispute. Here's what happened: Pat Kelly was on first and Bernie Williams was at bat. Kelly tried to steal second, and as Angels catcher John Orton made the throw, Williams' hit Orton with the bat. Kelly had to go back to first, but Angels manager Buck Rodgers argued Williams should have been out.

Home plate umpire John Shulock declared the interference was unintentional and let Williams continue to bat. According to the official baseball rulebook, rule 6.06 states if a batter interferes with the catcher, the batter is out and the ball is dead. If, in the umpire's judgment, the hard backswing unintentionally hits the catcher or the ball in back of him before the catcher has secured the ball, it shall be called a strike only. The ball is still dead and the runner cannot advance. Henceforth the protest.

"He caught the ball and threw it," Rodgers said of Orton. "That rule, which was put on the books this year, doesn't apply." But with the Angels winning the game, does Rodgers plan to continue the protest? "Ahh no," he said smiling. DAVIS STILL IN SLUMP: Despite a homer on Thursday, Chili Davis remains icy. He was 2-for-26 before the two-run shot, hadn't driven in a run since April 24, and watched his average plummet from .270 to .216. "Chili's real cold now and in a rut," said manager Buck Rodgers.

"He's pulling out (of the batter's box) real bad. He had three very aggressive swings today right-handed. I don't think he had three aggressive swings left-handed the whole trip. He needs extra work real bad. That's something you can only cure at home." Davis agreed.

"It's weird because I've felt good up there until it's time to go after the ball. I've been trying to pull everything, which I don't need to do. Plus the pitchers have been Leonardo Da Vinci's out there, painting the corners." Angels notes Winning the last two games "helped take the edge off the road trip," said manager Buck Rodgers. "It's sure better than being 0-5, 1-6 or 0-7." The fan who caught Kevin Maaa' home run off John Farrell on Wednesday found Farrell afterward and asked him to autograph it. Farrell obliged, then the fan, spotting some cuts on the ball, asked Farrell if he had sandpapered the ball.

"Nan," Farrell said, "I use tacks." Farrell said he was kidding, but before Thursday's game, New York writers were asking everyone whether Farrell scuffs the ball Scott Sanderson is off to a hot start but that's not a surprise. Including Thursday's results, he is 60-30 in April and May, and 56-69 June through August. "We'll take advantage of everything Scotty gives us," Rodgers said. "Right now he's our most consistent pitcher. He has a little history of melting in the summer heat, but we knew that going in.

A lot of good pitchers have good springs and taper off." Sanderson said, "I am a quick starter because I work hard in the offseason." But how can he have back-to-back 16- and 17-win seasons and just be a quick starter? Greg Myers got the Angels' first pinch-hit in 11 such at-bats when he singled in the eighth. AP WIREPHOTO Seattle's Jay Buhner slides past Cleveland catcher Junior Ortiz to score in the third inning Thursday at Cleveland. McGwire hits two more homers to power Oakland over Red Sox AL ROUNDUP came on and got an out before allowing Kevin Mitchell's third homer and a double by Chris Sabo. Randy Milligan flied out before Sanders hit his fourth homer. "I faced him (Jones) last year and I kind of knew what he throws and how he approaches the hitters," Sanders said.

"I was waiting for a changeup. He threw me two fastballs and then he threw the changeup I was waiting for." Despite an 0-15 record when trailing after eight innings, the Reds never let up. "We we're never down, we felt we could come back and we did," said manager Tony Perez. eryboby was pumping everybody else up in the dugout." Reliever Milt Hill (1-0) worked one inning, allowing eighth-inning solo homers by Jeff Bagwell and Luis Gonzalez. Jeff 1 Reardon pitched the ninth for his third save, retiring Casey Can-' daele on a foul fly to end the game I with the tying and winning runs on base.

BRAVES 13, ROCKIES 3: David Justice and Ron Gant homered and drove in four runs apiece, helping John Smoltz and Atlanta beat host Colorado. From Sun News Services Mark McGwire is hitting home runs in bunches. McGwire, who has hit two or more home runs in 26 games during his career, did it for the third time this season, and second against the Boston Red Sox, in powering the Oakland Athletics to a 6-3 victory Thursday at Fenway Park. His first of the game was also the first of his career against Roger Clemens. But he wasn't ready to claim any satisfaction against the Red Sox's ace.

"It's no big deal," said McGwire, who also homered leading off the eighth against reliever Greg Harris. McGwire had gone l-for-29 in his career against Clemens before his homer in the fourth inning cut Boston's lead to 3-1. "It's nothing new when he gets me out," McGwire said. "He's a pitcher that gets me out all the time. but his location was off," Pena said.

Bobby Witt (2-1) got the win and improved his career record to 2-0 in five confrontations with Clemens. Clemens is 0-3 over that time. McGwire also homered twice against Boston at Oakland April 27 and twice against the New York Yankees on Monday. BLUE JAYS 10, ORIOLES 8: Joe Carter and Darnell Coles from Eisenhower had two-run homers, and Ed Sprague a tie-breaking solo shot as host Toronto beat Baltimore. Four homers including a solo shot by Pat Borders accounted for all of Toronto's six runs against Baltimore starter Ben McDonald.

MARINERS 9, INDIANS Pete O'Brien ended an 0-for-16 slide with a single and one of Seattle's four home runs as the visiting Mariners ended Cleveland's five-game winning streak. From Sun News Services "Sometimes when a guy has your number, you have to try to do something to change that. Today I was just trying not to think about it and get a hit." Clemens (4-2), appeared to struggle with his location through the middle innings. Along with McGwire's home run, he gave up run-scoring triples to Mike Bordick in the fifth and Ruben Sierra in the sixth. "I had an opportunity to work out of a couple of jams, but they had a couple of key hits and it hurt," he said.

Clemens, who battled a tender right elbow the past two weeks, denied being bothered by the ailment against the Athletics. But catcher Tony Pena said he thought Clemens was still hurting. "He had good velocity throughout, Quakes take momentum on road hone. Save on to a ven more use it. when yo the road but it's good to have this momentum," Hardtke said.

The success has made the team upwardly mobile. They have begun to close ground on division-leading High Desert as the team improved to 14-12 and is now four games behind the Mavericks. "I think we are finally starting to see the results in the standings," Quakes manager Keith Champion said. "We are starting to pick up games on High Desert now." The Quakes jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the first inning on an RBI single from Sean Drinkwa-ter. The Rockies tied the game on an RBI double in the third inning by Craig Counsell, but it was the only run Quakes starter Ken Gr-zelaczyk (4-1) surrendered.

He pitched the Quakes' first complete game of the season while giving up just five hits. "We're playing pretty well right now and we're getting good pitching," Champion said. "We're playing with some confidence and that's the main thing." The Quakes added three runs in the fourth inning, two coming on an error by Central Valley shortstop Mauricio Gonzalez. Hardtke drove in another run with an RBI triple in the sixth inning, and the Quakes put away the game with a five-run eighth. Quakes notes League Leaders: Jason Giambi of Modesto, a Long Beach State product who spent last summer with Team USA at the Olympics in Barcelona, leads the league in home runs with eight.

Modesto's Islay Molina, in his second season in the Cal League, leads in RBI with 27. The Quakes' Jeff Huber leads in saves with six, while the team's pitching staff is ranked last in the league with a team ERA of 4.91 heading into Thursday's game. The Spirit's Rick Dehart (3-1) leads the league with a 0.89 ERA in 30 innings, while Steve Shoemaker, also with San Bernardino, leads in strikeouts with 36. High Desert leads the league In team batting with a .284 average. The Quakes (.277) are tied for second with Modesto.

The Spirit (.270) is fifth The Quakes will begin their second 10-game road trip of the season tonight at Bakersfield. After one game against the Dodgers, the team will play three three-game series at Modesto, Stockton and San Jose before returning home May 17 for a four-game series against Palm Springs. 300 free minutes. LA. Cellular will give you 25 free minutes every month for a year when you sign up now.

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With 10-1 win over Central Valley, Rancho Cucamonga heads into 10-l'" game road trip on 7-2 tear. By DotM Padilla Special to The Sun RANCHO CUCAMONGA i Visions of a past road trip do not haunt these Quakes. The momentum they are building as they get ready for their second 10-game excursion of the season may be a precursor to success. The Quakes' 10-1 victory over Central Valley Thursday at the Epicenter was their seventh in nine games, a run that could help them erase an early season nightmare. In the second week of the sea- son, the Quakes left on a 10-game trip and won just two games.

"It was frustrating at first," Quakes second baseman Jason Hardtke said. "But now we're coming together as a team. We're hitting the ball well and getting good pitching. You can't ask for anything more than that." Especially before leaving for four cities in 10 days. "It's always tougher to win on Spirit falls 4-1 to San Jose The Sun" SAN JOSE Second base-'.

man Steve Anderson had a hit and an RBI, leading the San Ber-nardino Spirit in a 4-1 loss to the San Jose Giants in a California League game on Thursday night. Right-hander Rod Pedraza (2-'; 4) took the loss, giving up four runs, eight hits and four walks for the Spirit (13-14). John Suther-' land relieved tn the seventh, giv- ingupahit. First baseman Troy Clemens went 3-fbr-4, scored a run and had an RBI for the Giants (15-1 1). Second' baseman Scott Wimmer went2-for-4.

Left-hander Steve Whitaker (2-1) picked up the win, giving up a run and four hits. Right-hander Brian Dour picked up his first save, pitching three innings of no-i: hit ball. i a SBVC pummels Citrus, 13-2 Get a Sony T.V. or a Nikon camera. mm 1 7ir thrfr rree.

when you buy this terrific Technophone PC305, you can choose a Sony Mega Watchman or a Nikon 35mm Fun Touch 2 camera, The Sun AZUSA Sophomore first baseman Jeff Acuna went 4-for-5 with four RBI and a run scored as San Bernardino Valley College pummeled Citrus 13-2 in a Foothill Conference contest on Thursday afternoon. Sophomore catcher Brandon Banaga went 2-for-4 with two runs and two RBI for the Indians (19-4, 29-9-1). Freshman first baseman Donovan Brooks went 3-for-5 with two runs. Sophomore shortstop Brett Thomas went 2-for-6 with a home run and two RBI. Sophomore center fielder Jay Johnson went 2-for-5 with two runs, a RBI and two stolen bases.

Sophomore left-hander Chris Lockman (6-2) went 7 innings, striking out six and giving up nine hits for the win. Citrus designated hitter Kevin Schramm went 2-for-4 with two runs scored. Right-hander Chris Watson had three strikeouts, three walks and gave up 12 hits and nine earned runs. Citrus is 13-10 in league and 21-14 overall. San Bernardino Valley College plays host to Mt.

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